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UNHCR donates tents for Pakistan earthquake victims

February 25, 2004

ISLAMABAD, 25 Feb (UNHCR) - The UN Refugee Agency in Pakistan has donated 100 tents to help house victims of an earthquake that caused six deaths and widespread destruction in the mountainous north of the country.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees was responding to an appeal by the UN Development Programme for emergency aid following a survey of the area hit by the 14 February earthquake. Six people were reported dead and 32 injured.

The damage was most severe in the Kaghan Valley, north of Islamabad. Across the isolated area nearly 500 houses were destroyed and 2,300 others damaged. The earthquake, measured at 5.5 on the Richter scale, was centred in the Hindu Kush Mountains, an area subject to frequent tremors.

The UNHCR donation was drawn from tents stockpiled for the shelter of Afghan refugees who are being relocated to new camps under a programme to consolidate camps. Camp populations have shrunk as Afghans return to their homeland.

National and international assistance, including that from other UN organisations, had already provided 1,627 tents and 5,898 tents to the victims, who face freezing night-time temperatures.